Junior School

• Sat 11 May – Family Photograph Opportunity – Link sent via email 
• Mon 13 May – 15.00 - SRE workshop - Theatre Lobby - Year 5 and 6 families only 
• Fri 17 May – Year 1 and Year 3 Specialist PTCs (via Teams links) 
• Saturday 18 May - Under 13 table tennis match vs SISB (home) 
• w/c 20 May – KS2 Production Week – Dragon Days. Performance 1 – Thursday 23 May @ 14.15/Performance 2 – Friday 24 May @ 9.00 
• Tues 21 May – Parent Workshop – Transition to Nursery (for all PN parents) – 8.00 Theatre Lobby 
• w/c 27 May – PN – Year 6 PTCs with Class Teachers 
• Mon 3 and Tues 4 June – School Closed 
• Thurs 6 June – Year 2 Sleepover  
• Thurs 6 June – Under 13 table tennis match v PPIP (away) 
• Sat 8 June – Wellington Chess Tournament (see news for details) 
• w/c 10 June – Bangkok Games (Year 5 and 6 students) 
• w/c 10 June and w/c 17 June – celebrations of children’s work with parents (dates to be shared by class teachers nearer the time) 
• Weds 19 June – Summer Sixes Cricket Festival 
• Fri 21 June – Summer Term reports to parents 
• Weds 26 June – Move Up Morning 
• Fri 28 June – Last day of the academic year – Half Day 

Dear Parents 

Thank you very much for completing the Annual Parent Survey. I have processed the data and am broadly pleased with the outcomes. Headlines (we use a 1-5 scale, where 1 = strongly positive and 5 = strongly negative):

• Teaching and care in Early Years (1.2 and 1.4)  
• Senior School Maths teaching (1.4) 
• My child’s teacher is friendly and approachable (1.4) 
• My child is happy at school (1.5)
• My child is getting a good education (1.5)

There is a lot more work to be done – we look carefully at all the negatives (and action-plan change), and there are all the comments still to analyse. A survey never tells the whole story – opinion only takes us so far – but it’s a very useful tool. Thank you for engaging with it so constructively. 

I’m in London this weekend at a COBIS leaders’ conference. I’ll report back on that next week. I’ve packed a coat! 

Have a great weekend 

Chris 

Withdrawals 

We would like to remind you that the last date for officially withdrawing for Michaelmas Term 2024 is Monday 20 May after which parents will be liable for a term’s fees in lieu of notice in accordance with our Parent Agreement. 

Please get in touch with Admissions or the Registrar if you have any questions. 

Chess Tournament 

We are delighted to announce that Wellington will host the 1st WCIB Chess Championship 2024 in collaboration with the JCA Chess School this June. The tournament offers a valuable opportunity for students to engage in competitive chess outside of school, connect with peers from other institutions, and enhance their strategic skills.  

The tournament features six categories, divided into boys and girls divisions. The competition is scheduled for Saturday, 8 June 2024, from 8.00 to 16.30  To register for this exciting event, please scan the QR code provided in the poster below or access the registration link directly at  https://bit.ly/JCAxWellington 

Teachers Tackle Everest! 

Reception teacher, Mr Jamie Perrin tells us “During the recent Songkran break, Mr Michael Antona, Mr Jason Dass and I (along with our intrepid Wellyphant ) set ourselves a very tall challenge – to hike all the way to Everest Base Camp in Nepal. Over 10 days we braved altitude sickness, lack of oxygen, lack of sleep, extreme cold (-20c) missing bags…and even a missing porter… to finally arrive at Base Camp.   

As we rounded the final precipice, we were lucky enough to view the ‘tent city’ of about 200 tents where the mountaineers who were going to climb the rest of the way to the top of the world would begin their journeys.  

Our return trip took only 2 days to cover the same distance – showing how steep most of the climb had been. Along the way we made some great new friends, enjoyed the local cuisine, experienced an amazing culture and challenged ourselves in ways we would never have thought possible before we started.  Would we do it again – never say never! 

Rembrandt 

It’s been an exciting week as we welcomed Rembrandt in to take our class, House Tutor group and whole school photos. Thank you to all our students for being very smart and well behaved – and to all parents for ensuring that everyone got the dress codes right!  

Family photos tomorrow will be lots of fun, too. Next year, class photos will be slightly earlier in the academic year so keep an eye out for information! 

Library Resources 

Joanna Whitehouse and the Library teams have updated us on some recent changes in the Senior School Library. Our library and a large selection of books have expanded into the 4th floor and we have rearranged everything for easy access. Currently we have the books arranged –  

• 1F -  Fiction books for young adults (books written with an audience in mind of Year 6-Year 11 and beyond); Graphic Novels (for all ages); books in Thai 
• 2F - A newly created Adult Fiction collection, including classics 
• 4F - General non-fiction; separated collections of: biographies; books in other languages (Mandarin, Spanish, French); Professional Development collection 

We had a major shipment of books arrive in February and there are more to add – so please encourage your children to have a look at this expanding collection if you're wanting something to read.  There are some great new titles in a wide range of genres. 

Students can browse the catalogue online to see what they want to read next. We also have access to collection of ebooks and audiobooks through Sora.  

Of course, as always, you can ask for help or information from any of the library team too. They can be found either on the 1F on the 4F and are always happy to help and student (and the team are very happy to chat to parents, too!) 

Libraries are a happy place to be at Wellington. Let’s all read more! 

Dragons Den in Senior School 

Year 7s have recently been studying Advertising and the Power of Persuasion in English. As part of this unit of study, they were tasked with creating and advertising an original product to enter the Dragon's Den with and persuade a team of fierce Dragons to invest. Products designed by our Year 7 entrepreneurs included a multi-task chair, an invisibility cloak, a quick trip galactic gun, a waterproof bag with secret compartments and an AI powered pen to help students' exam performance.

Students demonstrated their powers of persuasion within their pitch to the Dragons who were left with a very difficult decision to make, given the efforts and high standards within each presentation. The team of Dragons consisted of Mr Findlay, Mrs Nunes, Ms Scourti and Mr Anderson, who really put Year 7s to the test asking them a multitude of questions to ensure they were making a carefully considered investment of their 'dragon dollars' and getting the best value for their money.  

After much deliberation the Dragons decided on their final choices. Congratulations to Hazon, Aiya, Ingwa and Nera - the inventors of Scriptzo, and Pangrum, Mudmai, Vicky and Ada - the inventors of Suba Bag, who all secured investment from the Dragons for their products. 

Thank you to Ms Claire Bope and the English team for inspiring teaching as always.

Camp at Wellington this Summer 

Take a look at the updated offering from Camp Beaumont here at Wellington this summer. There is so much going on with camps based around STEAM activities and English in Action. See details below and get in touch with bookings@campbeaumont.asia to find out more.